Ficaria verna ‘Brazen Hussy’

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William Wordsworth wrote no less than three poems in celebration of our native, lesser celandine, so can you imagine the raptures if he had come across ‘Brazen Hussy’?

Closely related to the buttercup, this tuberous rooted perennial takes me by surprise every year: one minute the earth is bare, the next it pops up as if by magic. Its polished, heart-shaped, bronze-black leaves form a ground-hugging mound from which the golden yellow flowers cheerfully shine out as if to declare that spring really is on the way (although this week it feels as if it’s already here!)

The lesser celandine is summer dormant which means that after flowering it completely disappears; and at this point, I should point out that in our garden at least, ‘Brazen Hussy’ has none of the self-spreading capabilities of the plain green form, although I can imagine that there might exist gardens where conditions allow it to become invasive.

We can be sure that it was named by Christopher Lloyd, but was it discovered by him, his mother Daisy, or his head gardener? Whoever it was, they spotted a little gem!

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